h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think the milk tastes different in the US. I am not sure if it is homogonised or if it is pasteurised at a different temperature.

There was a thing on the radio this am saying that 5% of food poisoning is caused by manure contaminating fruit and vegetables, and they are therefore proposing to ban pasturing livestock in orchards. Now Rainbow, late of this parish, used to live with a water supply that was contaminated with e-coli. The family were completely fine, but vistors always got the runs. We should be concentrating on building up our immune systems instead of concentrating on eliminating bacteria.

B

Here, Here Ben

I studied enough Microbiology to be against anti-bacterial products (they use low levels of antibiotics and can help to build resistance)
They are going to cause a real problem in the future

Ah should that have been Hear, Hear?

Toc, antibacterial socks! I ask you!

Or maybe "Here hear?"

A whistling kettle was one of my first purchases when I first moved out on my own. Only someone who does not drink tea regularly would use a regular pot on the stove, or just use that in a pinch (I have burnt a couple dry too). I also own two tea pots, neither of which is satisfactory. One is too large and the other too small, and they both dribble when I pour. I use the large one for making ice tea, but beyond that I brew using a bag in teacup. After reading the DNA article I do warm the cup and it does make a difference, but you don't notice it until you do it for a while and then go back to not doing it.

This is my kitchen faucet. It has the water filter built into the tap:
http://www.americanstandard-us.com/ProductNew.asp?prodID=899

<-- eats all the cheese that is put under the grill.

One of these days I am going to buy Toc a pair of anti-bacterial socks just to watch her explode in fury.

At least all those yoghurt drinks have introduced the concept of 'friendly' bacteria.

B

I have an infected tooth; antibiotics are in my immediate future.

*refuses to think about her dental appointment for another two hours*

If it's any consolation at all, Lil, I have a tooth that has come out in sympathy with yours. I have a check-up booked for September so will put it out of my mind until then. Unless it goes ballistic.

H has one of those pro-biotic drinks for breakfast, I suppose it is better than nothing at all.

It is very windy here and has now clouded over, the rain won't be long in arriving so it looks as if the predicited storm is on schedule. Cassie will be stirring from her main kip of the day in about half an hour, nicely timed for a play in the rain.

I like the look of that tap, d'E, but do you have to crawl around in the cupboard under the sink to change the filter?

I would need a whole new set of sink hardware -- and the plumber to put them in -- before I could install a purifier, because the present tap is all crusted up with minerals. I've tried all manner of vicious chemicals to dislodge it, with no success. In several years I expect to have stalactites.

I find that lemon juice or white vinegar in a plastic bag, secured by an elastic band around the tap, with the tap soaking in the juice/vinegar over night, followed by a bit of firm poking with one of H's flat head screw drives dislodges lime scale very effectively

I'll try that. I know that boiling white vinegar in one's electric kettle is good for refreshing the interior.

[GDZ]

I periodically run vinegar through a brew cycle in my drip coffee pot to keep it clean, too.

[MTG]

Why are some jobs completely draining? I have just spent a couple of hours sorting out poetry to send off for the July competions, and I am shattered, as I always am when I do this? It isn't even a job I dislike doing, unlike sorting my bank statements, for example.

B

because your poetry is personal, Ben. It's rather like I'm completely tuckered after sorting thru the stuff my ex and I have together...what's his, what's mine?

Lil, if the vinegar doesn't work, CLR will. It gets rid of any and all mineral deposits. It isn't the most environmentally friendly stuff, but it works.

I have a coffee maker that has never seen coffee...I've used it to make Chai, and I've used it to make hot water for tea, but that's it.

On a completely unrelated, but obsessive note, I found out that the ex isn't going to Afghanistan, after all. No, instead they are sending him to Iraq.

http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=bigchief

Thought this might be appropriate to the tea discussion.

In some news completely unrelated to what you've all been talking about, I've decided that, as I'm now a Miner on the underGuide, I should probably try and experience the AWW from the writer's perspective as well as from the Miners' view.

So, I've put the beginnings of ashort story in- I don't often put this sort of thing up- I wrote a very bad poem for the Post oonce but that was about it, to write something fictional for h2g2, something entirely conceived in my own imagination, is something kind of nw and more daunting. ANyway, this is all a roundabourt way of saying that I've finally started putting ideas from my head into my computer, rather than scribbling them down on bits of paper I then lose. The opening scenes of my short story "Norman's Awakening" are at A2816444 and I'm kind of waiting nervously to see what people think of it.

And it's very different than waiting for comments on a regular Guide Entry, due to the fact that i feel my creativity's kind of being judged...

Caer, I have some cousins that bought a special kind of deep fryer for turkeys (it's available over here, I'm not sure if it's sold in the UK, let alone the popularity of turkey meat there). We cooked our Thanksgiving turkey in it the year before last, in peanut oil. The turkey seemed incredibly moist and tender that same day, but when it came time to leftovers, it was the same dry old bird. And I *like* turkey... The deep fryer was the size of a very large stockpot, and you have to use it in a safe location, like outside on the concrete patio or in a big garage.

If you like ice cream, Ben, chai ice cream is quite yummy.

Most British kitchens aren't big enough to hold a turkey-sized deep fryer. The mind boggles, to be honest.

Those of you with Team Ant t-shirts or singlets should consider changing into them now. I have a 5k race at 7.30pm today.